Now that the 2005 draft is five years behind us, I did a Casserly-style review of all 256 picks from that draft class. But there's no way to cover the details and keep it from getting way too long. So right up front, here's the executive summary:

The 2005 draft class was a very weak one.

The Falcons had eight picks, including an extra fifth rounder from trading Ellis Johnson to the Broncos in 2004. They came away with a strong group of prospects in spite of picking late (they made it to the NFC Championship game with a record of 11-5 the year before).

Bottom line: the Falcons picked late in a lousy draft and came out of it very well. While the "instant" grades were typically in the B / B- range, the Falcons get an outstanding final grade for that draft.

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I'll have to hit the details in bits and pieces. But before I get into the boring statistics, here's a quick look at the top ten overall picks just to refresh everyone's memory on the 2005 draft:

In retrospect... ouch. If you were building a mock NFL roster from scratch, none of these guys would be among your top 50 choices.

Smith is finally breaking through for San Francisco, but they've had to wait out his entire rookie contract for that to happen.

Brown has over 4000 rushing yards, so he has obviously "made it" in the league. Cadillac has over 3200 yards for the Bucs, and Benson has rebounded with the Bengals to surpass the 3500 career yard mark.

But keep in mind that these were top five overall selections. Meanwhile, Frank Gore (3rd round) has over 5500 yards, and fourth rounders Marion Barber and Brandon Jacobs have 3984 and 3455 career yards. So it's tough to say these first three RBs off the board have justified their ultra-high selections, especially considering that Benson was released outright by Chicago after three seasons.

He wasn't the only one to get the axe... Adam "PacMan" Jones is trying to work his way back into the league. Never mind his the legal issues - the reason why the Cowboys aren't keeping him is that he's only a mediocre defensive back.

The Vikings gave up on Williamson, trading him to the Jaguars for a mere sixth round pick. Tenth pick Mike Williams washed out with three different teams and has been out of the league since 2007.

And these guys were the top ten overall selections, the alleged cream of the crop. You get the idea...

The next three picks were DeMarcus Ware, Shawne Merriman, and Jammal Brown, so it wasn't all a horror show. But it certainly wasn't the hit parade you'd expect from the first round of ANY draft.

The NFLPA has always voiced strong opposition to the salary cap system, and has always insisted that the final year under each CBA be uncapped. The purpose of this is that if no new agreement is reached and a stoppage occurs, the status quo will be without a cap.

The wisdom or absurdity of the union's position is fodder for another time. For now, the key point is that when the owners brought in the cap system, the concession they offered as a trade-off was early free agency. Before the cap system, players had to have six years of service to become true (unrestricted) free agents. Until they reached six years of tenure, they could only be restricted free agents. But with the salary cap in place, unrestricted free agency began after four years of service.

The catch is that since we don't have a new CBA in place for 2011, 2010 stands to be an uncapped year. And when the cap goes, so does the early free agency. So all over the league, guys with four or five years in the league who would become free agents will find themselves RFAs (restricted free agents) rather than UFAs.

Their current teams will be able to tender (offer) them standard one year contracts. There are several levels of tenders. If the tender offer is a higher level, the team will get draft picks as compensation if another team signs that player away. At the highest tender level, the price tag is a first round AND a third round pick.

Also, the current team has the right to match any offer made to a tendered RFA to keep the player. It becomes that team's choice - match the offer and keep the player, or let the other team sign the player away and take the draft picks.

According to several reports, there are currently a total of 212 potential free agents that will be affected. These are players who would become true (unrestricted) free agents if we get a new CBA to restore the cap before March but will drop back to RFAs without a new deal.

The Falcons used more blitzes than they did in the first three weeks, and they also broke out their 3-4 and 3-3-5 nickel formations. Part of it is the same smoke and mirrors concept as last season - we're still undersized on the d-line and young in the secondary. Mixing up packages helps to disguise these potential targets. Part of it is dictated by personnel. With five DEs and only three DTs on the active roster, it makes sense to give some of the DEs a few snaps at DT and give the big guys a little more rest.

The NBC broadcast of the Sunday night game named Jamaal Anderson as a starting defensive tackle. It's true that Jamaal and other defensive ends played snaps in the middle, but it's a stretch to say that the Falcons have moved their struggling young DE in to replace Peria Jerry at the one-technique DT spot.

See it for yourself... here's the log of Falcons defensive line personnel for each play of the game against the Bears.

All week long I was set to post after the Bears game that Tony Gonzalez had already surpassed the team's 2008 reception total by its tight ends. But the announcers had it too, and they beat it to death.

Ah, but they didn't pick up on this one, and you heard it here first...

Devin Hester had more punt return yardage in just the first quarter of the Falcons-Bears game last night than all of the NFL had against the Falcons during the entire 2008 regular season.